May 22, 2024

One year ago today (May 22), Nick Stevens accepted the position of chief financial officer (CFO) at Michigan Tech for a period of two years. As he is now in year two of his tenure, the University has launched our search for his replacement.

President Rick Koubek wishes to thank the following individuals for agreeing to serve on the search committee:

• Mari Buche, associate dean and professor, College of Business
• Robert Hutchinson, professor, College of Business
• Chris Stancher, associate controller, Financial Services and Operations
• Gregg Richards, associate vice president, Facilities Management
• Erik Crowley, assistant director, Auxiliary Business Services
• Bill Roberts, vice president for advancement and alumni engagement (chair)

Ex officio members:

• Beth Lunde Stockero, executive director, Equal Opportunity Compliance and Title IX
• Alex Collias, recruiter, Human Resources
• Mary Stevens, assistant to the vice president, Advancement and Alumni Engagement

Stevens will continue in his current role until the University has identified our next CFO, at which time he will return to Financial Services and Operations.

Tech Today will not publish on Monday (May 27) in observance of the Memorial Day holiday.

Submissions for the Tuesday (May 28) issue of Tech Today are due by noon on Friday (May 24).

A research article by Ryan Williams and Daniel Lizzadro-McPherson (both GRF) and adjunct professor Joshua Pearce (MSE) has been recognized as an Outstanding Research Article of 2023 by the Royal Society of Chemistry.

The article, titled "The impact of snow losses on solar photovoltaic systems in North America in the future," was published in the society's journal Energy Advances in August 2023.

In the article, Williams, Lizzadro-McPherson and Pearce show that, with expected global warming, the snow losses on solar panels will shrink to insignificant values through most of North America.

From May 1 to May 15, the members of the Michigan Tech Concert Choir participated in a successful tour of New Zealand. They traveled through Auckland, Rotorua, Hamilton, Wellington, Hanmer Springs, Christchurch, Queenstown and Dunedin, traveling from the far north to the far south of the country. They performed four concerts: in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin.

Other highlights of the tour included visiting the extinct caldera of Mount Eden (Maungawhau) in Auckland, exploring Hobbiton (near Rotorua), crossing the Cook Strait, seeing the Southern Lights in Christchurch, and feeling the mountain air in Hanmer Springs and Queenstown. The choir experienced beautiful vistas, wonderful food, welcoming audiences and warm sunshine.

For more information and images from the tour, visit the Visual and Performing Arts News blog.

Michigan Tech track and field middle distance runner Sam Lange will begin competition at the 2024 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships tomorrow (May 23).

The national meet is being held at the Zola Witten Track at Francis G. Welch Stadium in Emporia, Kansas.

Lange will compete in the 1,500-meter preliminary round at 6:10 p.m. ET tomorrow. There will be two heats in the preliminary round, with the top four competitors in each heat and the next four fastest times advancing to the finals on Saturday (May 25) at 3:35 p.m. ET.

Read more at Michigan Tech Athletics.

Job Postings for Wednesday, May 22, 2024

Staff and faculty job descriptions are available on the Human Resources website. For more information regarding staff positions, call 906-487-2280 or email humanresources@mtu.edu. For more information regarding faculty positions, contact the academic department in which the position is posted.

Assistant Cross Country and Track and Field Coach, Athletics. Apply online.

Assistant Football Coach – Tight Ends, Athletics. Apply online.

Director for Charitable Giving, Advancement. Apply online.

Michigan Technological University is an Equal Opportunity Educational Institution/Equal Opportunity Employer that provides equal opportunity for all, including protected veterans and individuals with disabilities.

Accommodations are available. If you require any auxiliary aids, services, or other accommodations to apply for employment, or for an interview, at Michigan Technological University, please notify the Human Resources office at 906-487-2280 or humanresources@mtu.edu.

Jared Wolfe (CFRES/ESC) is the principal investigator on a project that has received a $525,000 research and development co-op joint agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Forest Service.

The project is titled "Integrating migratory bird stopover requirements into management action across the Great Lakes Basin."

Professor Timothy Keirnan (HU), undergraduate student Aracely Hernandez-Ramos and recent graduate Joshua Jongema ’24 (B.S. Scientific and Technical Communication) attended the Society for Technical Communication's annual summit, held May 17-19 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

In addition to attending many learning sessions across three days, the three met with Nancy Hoffman, a benefactor of MTU's scientific and technical communication program. They thanked Hoffman for her generous support.

While at the conference, Hernandez-Ramos was inducted into the student honorary society Sigma Tau Chi. This honor is given to students enrolled in a program in technical communication who have a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or above, are exemplary in participation in STC and demonstrate a potential for significant contribution to the profession.

The Department of Humanities congratulates Aracely on her induction and also conveys best wishes to Joshua, who just started his technical communicator job at John Deere in Dubuque, Iowa.

Special thanks to Husky Motors for providing transportation for the road trip.

Shehamoy Chatterjee (GMES) was quoted by the Detroit News in a story discussing why, amid critical mineral shortages, hybrid gas/electric vehicles could be a more practical option to reduce greenhouse gas emissions than fully electric vehicles. The story was picked up by Government Technology.

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The Keweenaw Report covered Yu Cai (AC/CS/ICC) being appointed as associate dean of Michigan Tech’s College of Computing. The story ran Monday (May 20) in Tech Today.

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WLUC TV6 mentioned the Department of Social Sciences’ archaeology field school in a story about the new owners of the Delaware Copper Mine. The field school was held at the mine last summer, and will also serve as its location this summer.

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The Ludington Daily News ran a profile of Hannah O’Connor ’17 (B.S. Secondary Education and Teaching), who teaches English and grammar at Mason County Eastern Junior High/High School.

Cashier's Office Closure

The Cashier's Office, within the Student Financial Services Center, will be closed today (May 22) in the morning, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., for a departmental retreat. The office will open at 1 p.m.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

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Fall 2024 ICC/GLRC Rapid Seedling Application Deadline

Applications for GLRC/ICC Rapid Seedling Awards for projects to be conducted in fall 2024 must be submitted by June 1.

The Great Lakes Research Center (GLRC) and Institute of Computing and Cybersystems (ICC) are accepting applications for startup (seedling) projects undertaken by members of the joint institutes that aim to use the results of the research to scale into proposals to larger external funding opportunities.

The application and submission instructions can all be found on the GLRC/ICC Rapid Seedling Research Funding webpage. Questions will be addressed by emailing GLRC-ICC-ADMIN-L@mtu.edu.

Rapid Seedling Awards are available to members of the ICC and/or the GLRC. Those interested in joining can find resources on the ICC's Members page and/or the GLRC's Contact Information and Form page.

To have your event automatically appear, please submit them to the University Events Calendar.

Submission and Formatting 101: Master the Dissertation, Thesis, and Report Process

Wednesday, May 22, 2:00–4:30 p.m. | Administration and Student Services Building, 404

Students who are completing a dissertation, thesis, or report are invited to join the Graduate School to learn about the resources available to them to assist in scheduling...